The man killed by Gardena police officers in front of a busy restaurant on Redondo Beach Boulevard was shot twice in the back, according to the autopsy report released Monday.

Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino, 34, of Gardena was struck by a total of eight bullets, two of which struck him in his upper back near his left shoulder blade. He was also hit by bullets in his arm, hip and knee, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner autopsy report.

Diaz-Zeferino was pronounced dead at the scene of June 2 shooting.

A second man, Euticio Acevedo, also was shot in the back during the incident, according to Samuel Paz, the attorney representing Acevedo and the family of Diaz-Zeferino.

The Gardena Police Department declined to comment on the autopsy report or the specific details of the shooting.

According to witnesses at the scene, nearly two dozen patrons were dining in Carrows Restaurant in the 1700 block of Redondo Beach Boulevard feet from where the cops shot and killed Diaz-Zeferino.

“It sure is an awful lot of shots for an unarmed guy from two officers that were standing behind their patrol cars and there seems to be little regard for the patrons in the restaurant,” said Samuel Paz, the attorney representing Diaz-Zeferino’s family and Acevedo. “The patrons could have been casualties with that many shots fired.”

Patrons in the restaurant hit the floor after the first shot was fired, Paz said.

The three officers at the scene of the shooting were placed on administrative leave, but now “have returned to full duty,” Gardena police Lt. Steve Prendergast said Monday. The Police Department still has refused to release their names.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the shooting. Calls made to the investigating detective were not returned Monday.

The evidence from the Sheriff’s Department’s investigation will be turned over to the district attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division, which will determine whether the shooting was justified.

No time line has been set for when the investigation will conclude and JSID will render a decision, sheriff’s officials said.

Diaz-Zeferino, Acevedo, Garcia Jose Amado and the brother of Diaz-Zeferino, Augustin de Jesus Reynoso, all cooks in Gardena restaurants, had drinks at Mis Amigos Bar on Redondo Beach Boulevard in Gardena just before the shooting.

Before heading home for the night, De Jesus Reynoso crossed Redondo Beach Boulevard with his bicycle to buy a lottery ticket at the CVS store directly across the street from the bar. He left his bike on the curb then entered the store. When he exited the store, the bike had been stolen.

Acevedo and Amado mounted their bikes and rode east on Redondo Beach Boulevard looking for the stolen bike. Diaz-Zeferino followed on foot.

A 9-1-1 call was placed and Gardena officers were summoned to the scene. The 9-1-1 caller said he didn’t “think” the person who stole the bike was armed, according to audio dispatch recordings released nine days after the shooting.

However, the 9-1-1 dispatcher says “unknown weapons, two suspects last seen eastbound on Redondo Beach Boulevard,” during a conversation with one of the officers headed to the scene, according to the recording.

The 9-1-1 call was placed just before 2:30 a.m. June 2; the officers were on the scene within minutes, The report of the robbery, the quick response and the fact that the dispatcher didn’t rule out the possibility the suspects could be armed might have suggested to the officers that the suspects were a threat.

Gardena police officers confronted Acevedo and Amado in front of Carrows and drew their weapons.

Initial reports from the Gardena Police Department indicate that the officers thought the two were the suspects who had stolen De Jesus Reynoso’s bicycle.

Diaz-Zeferino ran to the scene. One witness said the man was waving his hands in the air and yelling to the cops in English that Acevedo and Amado were not suspects but, in fact, two friends who were searching for the stolen bike.

In their official statement after the shooting, the Gardena Police Department said the officers saw Diaz-Zeferino reach for his waistband, possibly for a weapon. The officers shot and killed Diaz-Zeferino.

Paz said the officers’ reaction to a report of a bicycle theft was unwarranted.

“It’s was reported as theft of a bicycle, not a person,” Paz said. “The guy left his bicycle and someone took it, it’s as simple as that.”

brian.charles@sgvn.com

@JBrianCharles on Twitter

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, the Redondo Beach Police Department was inadvertently named as confronting two bicyclists. It was the Gardena Police Department.